Rodgers hit gold with “phenomenal” Celtic ace who’s similar to a £100m star

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was backed by the board in the recent summer transfer window, as several big-money recruits were brought in to bolster the squad.

Danish midfielder Matt O’Riley was sold to Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, whilst the likes of Hyeon-gyu Oh, Mikey Johnston, and Tomoki Iwata were all cashed in on.

The Scottish giants smashed their record transfer fee by paying a reported £11m to sign Arne Engels from Augsburg to bolster their midfield options.

Celtic also reportedly paid a fee of £8.5m, potentially rising to £9.5m, to Norwich City for Adam Idah, and £5m to Sheffield United for Auston Trusty.

How Celtic’s big-money signings have performed

The Hoops have decided to invest in young talent and, with that, there has to be an acceptance that inexperienced players will not be perfect right away.

Engels has produced three goals and six assists in 17 appearances for the Glasgow giants in all competitions to date, but has also lost the majority (52%) of his duels in the Scottish Premiership.

Idah, meanwhile, has scored eight goals in all competitions but has failed to convince Rodgers that he deserves to start week-in-week-out, with just five starts in the Premiership and the Champions League combined.

Trusty, on the other hand, arrived in the prime years of his career at the age of 26 and has started all eight of his appearances in the Premiership, as well as four of his five outings in the Champions League.

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Rodgers has hit the jackpot with the former Sheffield United man, whose performances in Europe this season have earned him a comparison with Arsenal star William Saliba.

How Auston Trusty comares to William Saliba

The USA international is listed as one of the most similar players to the French colossus in the 2024/25 Champions League on FBref, due to their respective statistics.

As you can see above, they are not identical players but they are similar in what they offer to their sides in possession, with their pass completion rate, passes attempted, Expected Assisted Goals, and touches.

Saliba is reportedly valued at more than £100m by Arsenal, amid interest from Real Madrid and PSG, and that speaks to how impressive Trusty has been in Europe for the Hoops, as his performances have been comparable to those of the France international’s.

24/25 Champions League	Auston Trusty
Appearances	5
Starts	4
Pass accuracy	96%
Tackles per game	2.8
Clearances per game	4.4
Ground duel success rate	78%
Stats via Sofascore

As you can see in the table above, Trusty, who was described as “phenomenal” in the 3-1 win over Leipzig by Chris Sutton, has been incredibly reliable in possession of the ball and super dominant in duels on the ground.

The American titan has also won 64% of his duels across seven outings in the Premiership, keeping five clean sheets, for the Hoops so far this season.

These statistics, and the similarities to Saliba, show that Rodgers has hit the jackpot with the £5m signing of the former Arsenal prospect, who has slotted straight in and hit the ground running with excellent performances domestically and in Europe.